Cannabis business is getting high as marijuana goes mainstream

Cannabis business is getting high as marijuana goes...

1of4FILE - In this Friday, March 22, 2019 file photo, a participant takes a very smoky puff from a marijuana cigarette during at meet and greet at "Tommy Chong's Live, Love, and Smoke Tour hosted by GreenTours in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. Los Angeles prosecutors are joining other California district attorneys to tap technology that could wipe out or reduce more than 50,000 old marijuana convictions. District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced Monday, April 1, 2019, that she is joining forces with a nonprofit organization that uses computer algorithms to identify eligible cases. San Francisco became the first city in the state to work with Code for America to expunge or reduce 8,000 convictions. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)Photo: Richard Vogel, STF / Associated Press

2of4A customer takes a photo of cannabis products on display at the Fire & Flower cannabis shop in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Monday, April 1, 2019. Canada's most populous province will finally open its first pot shops, nearly six months after legalization. Only 10 stores in Ontario had received the necessary licenses to open on April 1. Photographer: David Kawai/BloombergPhoto: David Kawai / Bloomberg

4of4Dani Traeger (right) joins a crowd in favor of the legalization of cannabis in Texas gathered to rally at the intersection of San Pedro and Rector on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018. The organization 420OpenCarry held the event to support the open use of recreational marijuana. (Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News)Photo: Kin Man Hui, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Former House Speak John Boehner, style maven Martha Stewart and entrepreneurial rapper Snoop Dogg agree, the cannabis business is getting high.

Whether it’s Martha developing a line of products with cannabidiol, better known as CBD, or Snoop’s private line of recreational pot, entrepreneurs recognize that consumers are into weed.

Walgreen’s and CVS will soon carry CBD products. The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ have listed cannabis companies. And Boehner joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a major Canadian grower and processor.

“My thinking on cannabis has evolved,” Boehner said on Twitter.

So has the thinking of most Americans — more than 62 percent support legalizing marijuana, according to a Pew Research Center poll in October.

In the 34 states where marijuana is legal for either medical or recreational use, sales totaled $10.4 billion last year, according to government figures. Investors injected $10 billion into the industry last year to help it grow, both figuratively and literally.

About 55 million Americans say they smoke marijuana regularly, according to a Marist poll. The potential U.S. market, if every state legalized pot, is about $150 billion. That’s twice as large as tobacco and $30 billion more than beer. The legal marijuana business currently employs 250,000 people, according to industry figures.

States that legalized marijuana have a head start. Californians bought $2.5 billion in legal weed in 2018, generating $400 million in state revenue. Colorado dealers made $1.5 billion in sales last year and have paid $950 million in taxes in the previous five.

Unfortunately, for every dollar spent on legal pot, four dollars go to illicit, unregulated and potentially contaminated marijuana.

Imagine the boon to the Texas economy if our Legislature legalized it.

Lawmakers have already approved a non-psychotropic cannabis oil to treat one form of juvenile epilepsy. But the state continues to punish marijuana possession with 180 days in jail, $2,000 in fines and a permanent criminal record.

Gov. Greg Abbott said he would support legislation that reduces possession of small amounts to a Class C Misdemeanor, which would preclude jail time. Rep. Joe Moody, a Democrat from El Paso, is moving legislation through the Texas House to make possession of small amounts a civil, not criminal offense.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, though, has said he opposes loosening marijuana laws, and he controls what passes through the Texas Senate.

President Donald Trump agrees; federal law still lists marijuana as a Schedule 1 narcotic with no medical use whatsoever. That’s the same as heroin and cocaine. The Trump administration opposes congressional efforts to take it off the federal schedule of dangerous narcotics.

None of this makes sense. Forty-six states allow marijuana use for medical purposes, and 10 states have legalized small amounts for adult recreational use. Even Oklahoma allows people with a prescription to get lit.

Texas businesses are missing out on a chance to compete, or at least get a foothold, in a growing national industry. An estimated 5 million Texas consumers are missing out on safe, legal versions of a product they already consume. And legalization could do some social good too.

Law enforcement arrested about 66,000 Texans for possession of marijuana in 2017, according to Department of Public Safety figures. Marijuana possession made up 49 percent of all drug arrests that year. Is that the best us of our public safety dollars?

Those arrested Texans will also forever find it challenging to find jobs. Legalization would presumably come with the commutation and expunction of past marijuana convictions, and allow more Texans to rejoin the workforce without the stigma of a felony conviction.

This is especially important for communities of color who face prosecution for marijuana possession at four times the rate as white people, according to state statistics gathered by the ACLU.

Lastly, recent studies show that marijuana can help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and replace opioids for pain treatment. Our veterans need help, and people in pain need alternatives to addictive medications like Oxycontin.

Some drugs are dangerous and should be illegal. And the opioid epidemic proves that Big Pharma can be just deadly as a Latin American cartel. But pot does not fall in that category.

Complete legalization of marijuana is beyond what’s possible in the current legislative session. But Texans can voice their support for Moody’s decriminalization effort as a first, essential and necessary step.

Hopefully, then in 2021, Texas lawmakers will return and get out of the way of Texas entrepreneurs so that they can provide safe and legal products for consumers.

Chris Tomlinson has written commentary on business, energy and economics for the Houston Chronicle since 2014. Before joining the Chronicle, he spent 20 years with The Associated Press reporting on politics, conflicts and economics from more than 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. He’s also the author of the New York Times bestseller Tomlinson Hill, and he produced the award-winning documentary film by the same name. Both examine the history and consequences of race, politics and economics in Texas.